Month: January 2023

Met up with Paul and Sharon from Northern Ireland in the hotel, and they had clearly come to the conclusion that I know my way around. Admittedly early morning walks around the souks have helped, but they look very very different when all the stalls are out.

Anyway, we were both planning on visiting the Medersa (religious school). They had wanted to take a taxi but a taxi can’t get anywhere near. So they tentatively asked if I would be their guide. Gulp – quite a responsibility, and I don’t have a long stick with a flag on it.

But a combination of morning reconnaissance and a bit of google maps – who knew it even works in the souk??? – we made it without going wrong. So chuffed!

And well worth it.

I think this is the first time I’ve ever included a picture of the toilets!

Looking straight down.

And the museum next door was pretty good as well.

Then a genius idea to go and rest in the secret garden for a couple of hours. Hee hee😃.

It’s hard to show how amazing it is – the juxtaposition of the quiet garden in the middle of the crazy souk is what really makes it. Here’s a model

Off on our travels tomorrow. Marrakech is hard work but well worth it. Just make sure you have thick sweaters and coats for cold evenings.

Majorelle played a large part – amazing gardens just outside the Medina. Renovated by Yves St-Laurent in the 80s. And a small YSL museum as a bonus.

So sad that our famous coffee shop was fully booked so missed out this time. More souks

And a massage …

Feast your eyes …

Hmmmm

Might as well share these as they come thick and fast.

• Bought a SIM card for my old phone so can use as a satnav and phone. Paid in euros, change in dirhams, and we’re about £2 short at the end of the transaction
• Got confused about phones while trying to use google maps in the souk, and might have turned on dataroaming on my current phone. £6 for a day. Not really a scam but my flustration.
• Get taxi to Majorelle Gardens. Agree price. He drops us about half a mile away and was gone before we realised.
• In the souk, someone kindly points you in the (wrong) direction to the main Sq and very soon a kid pops up to guide you when you’re lost again. 50p (and he complained!).
• Same, but near the hotel when we knew where we were. But someone shouted out that the road was closed and a kid popped up to guide us again. Had run out of change by now …

It’s sometimes a battle, and despite that loving Marrakech.

The one lowlight so far is the inability to deal with the cold. We’ve been to places colder, but they are unable to warm up places, especially restaurants. So we were cold at breakfast and freezing when out in the evening. Oh, and melting at lunchtime in the full sun!

But we’re not complaining. We did the touristy thing of getting lost in the souk in the morning, rather ironically hunting for the secret garden😀. But once we gave up looking we found it.

Photos don’t really do it justice

as it’s this little oasis slap bang in the middle of the noisy souk.

Lunch in the main square as tourists have to do (and avoiding the snake charmers)

And finally the tombs. We remember these extremely well from 3 years ago and definitely worth a repeat visit. Probably identical photos as well.

Forecast to be the worst weather of the whole holiday, so might as well get it out of the way now.

– hotel is really quiet and comfortable even though it’s central. Jemaa El-Fnaa Square is the famous one, about 20 minutes walk

– afraid they haven’t got even close to cashless – haven’t used the card all day

– it’s a bit chilly!

– millions of cats but no dogs

It’s interesting to see and remember familiar things, although the old blog helps.

Old Palace – fairly sure it was closed last time.

New Palace – definitely been here before

And a lot busier than last time.

But it really was f**ing cold and worse when it rained so gave up and back to hotel.

Did get a bit of colour though

Another milestone – first time out of Europe since the pandemic. And it’s to the last place we were before lockdown hit.

Dream journey – not much more than 7 hours door to door without a hitch. Even Luton was ok mainly because there was hardly anyone there, and we had a row of seats to ourselves so what’s not to like.

Les Borjs de la Kasbah in Marrakech is our home for the next few days

and only time for a short explore that evening.